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Friday, February 1, 2013

It is 65 years since…. Much water has flown
under the bridge…. Do we really remember or have done justice to all those who
fought for the freedom of the Nation and for the good of the Country !!!

It was on this day… 30th Jan – in 1948,
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Father of the Nation was shot while he was walking
to a platform from which he was to address a prayer meeting. The sole assassin, Nathuram Vinayak Godse
shot Mahatma in the chest at point blank range and made no attempt to run
away. He was eventually hanged on 15th
Nov 1949. Reports suggest that during
his trial, his thesis covered ninety-pages, and he was on his feet for five
hours.

This post is not about Mahatma or his killer ~
but of another person involved … an Officer who caught Nathuram Godse and took
him to Police Station. Searching for
details, read that the family of late Sergeant Dev Raj Singh Thakur, who chased
and caught Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse at Birla House live in
poverty in this Himachal Pradesh town.
Newspaper reports stated that the family has been demanding a government
job for a kin of gallantry award winner Thakur for over a decade as there is no
breadwinner in the family. [courtesy : Indian Express News Agency]

The report states that the heirs of the officer
met the CM in 2010 and pleaded the case for a State Govt job for one of the
descendants. Of Thakur's three sons, the
eldest one passed away in 2005 while the other two don't live in Himachal. Sad to read that Thakur, lost his mental
balance during his service in the Indian Air Force, was sent on retirement. He
was subsequently admitted to a mental hospital in Amritsar
in Punjab where he remained for 14 years. Till
his death, Thakur was getting a monthly pension from the central government.
The Sainik Welfare Board office in Nahan said Thakur was awarded the gallantry
award in 1952 for nabbing Godse by the country's first president. He was on
duty at the time of tragedy.

Some reports suggest that the controversial
Marathi play ‘Me Nathuram Godse Boltoi.
(I, Nathuram Godse speaking), that created a political furore also
brought fore the officer who apprehended him.
Dev Raj Singh Thakur, was a sergeant working in Indian Air Force,
received national prominence for apprehending Nathuram Godse. He was awarded the Ashok Chakra Award, a
gallantry award, in 1952 for arresting Godse.
Sadly the family got a measly pension and remain in chill penury…